The present disclosure relates to a photosensitive drum and an image forming apparatus having same.
In an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet, a toner image is formed on a photosensitive drum and a transfer unit transfers the toner image to a sheet. Since the image forming apparatus has a fixing unit, the sheet on which the toner image has been transferred undergoes fixing processing, after which the sheet is discharged outside the apparatus.
The photosensitive drum has a sleeve, which is a cylindrical body, a pair of flanges fitted to both ends of the sleeve, and a shaft extending from the pair of flanges each toward the outer side, in the axial direction of the photosensitive drum. When the shaft is inserted into a bearing included in the main body of the image forming apparatus, the photosensitive drum is rotatably supported. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the circumferential surface of the sleeve, after which the latent image is visualized as a toner image. If the temperature of the photosensitive drum is raised during this process, toner may adhere to the sleeve of the photosensitive drum.
To cool the photosensitive drum, therefore, a flow air may be allowed to enter the interior of the sleeve through holes formed in each of the pair of flanges of the photosensitive drum.
However, since the holes in each of the pair of flanges are formed toward the axial direction of the photosensitive drum, the openings of the holes are limited to a size smaller than the area of the pair of flanges each. This prevents the flow air from easily entering the interior of the photosensitive drum through the holes formed in each of the pair of flanges. Accordingly, a flow air having a sufficient amount of air to cool the photosensitive drum is difficult to obtain.